Improvement in grain-thresher



A. S. WHITTEMORE.

Thrashing Machine.

. Patented March 16,1869.

A. S. WHITTEMORE, OF WILLIMANTIC, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 87,995, dated March 16, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAIN-THRESHBR.

We The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent andmaking part of the same.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, A. S. WnITTnMoRE, of Willimantic, in the county of Windham, and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and improved Grain- Thresher; and I do hereby declare that the following is a. full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section of a grain-thresher, constructed according to my improvement, and

Figure 2 represents a plan view of the same.

Similar-letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention consists in a new and improved construction of machinery for threshing grain, by means of pivoted flails attached to a balance-wheel, arranged to rotate within a suitable case, whereby the grain may be threshed from the straw without unbinding the bundles, while said bundles are supported from a point beyond the action of the flails.

It also consists in providing the case, underneath the threshing-wheel, with a curved sieve, having attached to its rear end a guard, whereby the threshed grain is caught and allowed to pass through the same, and thereby separated from the straw; and

It furthermore consists in other points of novelty, combining simplicity, efliciency, and economy.

In order that othersmay be enabledv to understand the construction and operation of my invention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

'A is a-frame, or case, constructed of a rectangular formation, much after the manner of an ordinary wooden box.

Upon this frame,-or case A, and extending across the centre of the same, from one side thereof tothe other,

and supported by and rotating in suitable bearings b,

is a shaft, B.

This sha&B extends beyond the frame A, on one side, for reception of a fixed, pinion, c, which gears into a cog-wheel, 0, designed either for hand-operation, by means of a crank, or for any other suitable power.

Within the frame A, and rigidlysecured upon the shaft B, are balance-wheels, D. Said balance-wheels are constructed preferably of cast-iron, but may be made of any suitable material, and comprising any de sirable number.

Pivoted by one end to the rim, and near the periphcry of these balance-wheels D, are fiails f, comprising any desirable number to each wheel, and so that when the shaft B is rapidly rotated, the said flails f will be carried around in an extended manner by the balancewheels D, so as to strike upon, or beat with their extended ends, the bundles of grain placed across the edge of. the frame A, thereby separating the grain from the straw.

By thearrangement of the balance-wheels inside the case, a convenient means is provided for attachment of fed by hand; but the machine may be provided with a feed-attachment, c, consisting of feed-rollers, suspended in a suitable frame, and operated bya'belt, d, passing therefrom to the shaft B.

E is a support, provided beyond the range of the extreme outer ends of the pivoted flails j, and upon which the bundles may be supported, with the heads of grain extending into the case A, and within rangeof said flails.

G is a curvated sieve, arranged under the balance-- wheels D, and extending the full length of the case A.

Said sieve G is provided, at its rear extremity, with a stop, or guard, g, for the purpose of retaining the loose heads or threshed grain within the case, and preventing them from being carriedover the edge of the sieve by the current of air created by the rotating of the balance-wheels and flails.

H H are inclined planes, or conducting-aprons, arranged under the sieve G, in such manner as to con vey the thr eshed grain, as it passes through the sieve, to a central point at the bottom of the case. -i

The conducting-apron H is arranged to slide between guide-strips h h, and is susceptible of being-outwardly drawn for a purpose hereinafter explained.

L is a folding leaf, constructed of parallel bars, with intervening spaces between them, and designed for saving such threshed grain or loose heads of grain as may be carried over the stop, or guard 9.

By the arrangement of said parallel bars and spaces composing the leaf L, said loose heads or threshed grain caught thereby, are permitted to pass through the said folding leaf, while the straw which may also be caught thereon is retained. The grain thus. passing through the folding leaf L may be caught and conducted to a previously-mentioned central point under" the machine, by drawing outwardly the conductingapron -H until its upper portion tests under the said foldingv leaf, as illustrated in red outline in fig. 1.

The operation of this inventiou'is such that the bun dles of grain to be threshed, without being unbound, are placed upon the frame A, through the opening a. at the end of the same, and parallel with the sides thereof, and the flails f set in motion by the turning of the wheel 0, when the fiails f, passing between the stalks of the grain, while the bundles are -slowly turned over by hand, thoroughly separate the heads from the straw, leaving the straw in unbroken bundles, the heads and kernels passing through the sieve G, and carried, by means of the conducting-aprons'H H, to a central point at the bottom of the frame A, into some convenient receptacle for the same.

The operation may be varied by unbinding the bundies and feeding the grain through the machine by means of the feed-roller attachment 6, the grain-heads and kernels passing down, as before'described, and the loose straw carried through and ejected at the rear of the machine.

By this process of threshing without a platform, the

flails are brought in contact with nothing more than the yielding stalks of the grain that is being threshed,

thereby dispensing with much power that is otherwise required, where the said flails, at every revolution, are brought in contact with a platform or other unyielding surface required for support of the grain, while said grain is being threshed; and the apparatus, as above I am aware that pivoted flails, and also a sieve-concave, have been used before these; therefore I do not claim per se; but

What 1 claim as my invention, and desire to have secured by Letters Patent, is- I l. The balance-wheels D, with flailsf, arranged within the frame A, substantially as described, and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. The curved sicve g, with stop G, in combination with a grain-thresher, substantially as herein specified.

3. The threshing-machine, constructed as described, and consisting of balance-wheels D, flails f, rest E, and curved sieve G, all arranged within a suitable frame, substantially as herein set forth.

A. S. XVHITTEMORE.

Witnesses:

J. It. ARNOLD, JOEL W. WEBB. 

